The Sejm agreed to extend the temporary suspension of the right to asylum

In the Friday vote, MPs agreed to extend the temporary restriction of the right to submit an application for international protection at the state border with the Republic of Belarus. The extension will apply from September 23 for the next 60 days.

414 deputies voted in favor of the application, 11 were against. Nobody abstained.

The extension of the temporary suspension of the right to asylum is to apply from September 23 this year. for the next 60 days.

Earlier, during the debate, the deputy head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration Maciej Duszczyk emphasized that the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border is very difficult.

– In this year, until September 11, we had 25,287 attempts to cross the border, which does not mean that there were so many people because some people are trying to cross this border several times. (…) In the same period in 2024 we had such attempts 25,268. You can see that this number is very similar – said Duszczyk. Most people returned in Belarus come from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sudan and Somalia.

The deputy minister announced that by September 7, applications for international protection were adopted from 52 foreigners from the so -called sensitive groups – 24 due to their health, 16 pregnant women with six children, one because of the age and five minors unattended. He added that in the same period last year there were 1190 such applications for 1342 people.

In the justification to the application for extension, the Prime Minister emphasized that “the reason for the introduction of this restriction was not ceased” – the instrumentalization of migration still takes place, and the actions taken within it are a serious and real threat to the security of the state or society.

In the period from March 27, 2025 (i.e. from the introduction of the restriction of the right to submit applications for international protection) to August 28, 2025: no applications were accepted from 221 foreigners and applications from 50 foreigners from the so -called sensitive groups.

“For comparison, in the period from February 27, 2025 to March 26, 2025, the number of accepted applications for international protection was 162, covering a total of 189 people” – added in the justification of the application.

Limitation of the right to submit an application for international protection was introduced by the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 27 March 2025 on the temporary limitation of the right to submit an application for international protection and later extended twice (ordinances of May 23 and July 24).

The regulation is issued on the basis of the so -called Asylum Act, which the government adopted in December 2024. The Act is to counteract the phenomenon of using migration by Belarus, which in cooperation with Russia and international criminal groups organizes metastasis of migrants to the European Union.

Despite the temporary limitation of the right to submit an application for international protection on the border with Belarus, the Border Guard may accept applications for this protection from minors without care, pregnant women, people who may require special treatment, especially because of their age or health. It will not apply to a person if, in the Border Guard, there are circumstances that “clearly show that it is threatened with the actual risk of suffering serious harm in the country from which she came directly” to Poland.

Social organizations involved in helping refugees are opposite to the provisions limiting the right to submit applications for international protection. In their opinion, the provisions are inconsistent, among others with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, in particular from art. 56 para. 2, guaranteeing foreigners the possibility of applying for refugee status and with international obligations, such as the convention regarding the status of refugees from 1951 (PAP)

AK/ Jann/